news. right now electors across the country are meeting to cast votes for president and vice president. some of those meetings met with protests. this hour, alabama, iowa, wisconsin getting their chance. already seeing gathering in pennsylvania, north carolina, ohio making their choices and a push by protestors and other groups encouraging electors to not vote for donald trump. it's possible a few electors may do that, but no evidence that trump's victory is in doubt. also watching breaking news out of turkey where the russian ambassador was killed in an attack at an art exhibit in ankara. i warn you, graphic video. the ambassador was giving a speech when a gunman opened fire hitting the ambassador several times. [ gunfire ]

>> [ speaking in foreign language ]. [ speaking in foreign language ] [ speaking in foreign language ] >> i want to bring in our senior international correspondent clarissa ward following the story from moscow. i believe he's shouting in turkish. do we know what he is saying? >> reporter: well, we know that he repeatedly talks about

aleppo. aleppo, of course, the city in syria that has been ravaged over the past few months, particularly the last few weeks saying, we must remember aleppo, also saying "god is the greatest." we don't know exactly who this man was affiliated with. was he a lone wolf attacker? was he part of a militant group like isis? we simply just don't have any information. you can hear in his voice in that chilling video, and it is just so disturbing to watch it, that he is clearly incredibly emotional, angry. you can hear the strain in his voice. and often, you know, it's fair to say that across the muslim world, you have have seen some very emotional and intense responses to the daily barrage of images coming out of syria, coming out of aleppo. images of civilians being killed, of children being bombed. of people starving to death,

having no food, no water. so that -- those images have served as a rallying cry to jihadists and extremists across the world, but it's not year yet if the attacker you saw there falls into the bracket of one of those more extreme jihadist groups we know about or whether he is just sympathetic to the cause of the ribs insi srebels syria. from russia's foreign ministry, they've responded to the murder of its ambassador in turkey, and they have said this -- we qualify what happened as a terror attack. we're currently in contact with turkish authorities who are assuring us that a thorough, comprehensive investigation will be conducted. murderers will be punished. terrorism won't sustain. we will fight it. so pretty strong words there from the russian foreign ministry. the honous very much on turkish

authorities to investigate who this man was, why he was there. this was a dep make party if you will, an exhibition of russian photographs in the capital of ankara. many elites there. people in diplomatic circles. raising serious security questions, how we was able to get in there. was it an inside job? brianna, it starts to put the relationship between russia and turkey which had just been in the last six months started to get back on course it threatens some of the progress that that relationship had made. one final note i want to add, brianna. there's supposed to be here in moscow a big summit tomorrow on syria, turkey's foreign minister in attendance, iran's foreign minister in attendance as well, of course, as russia's foreign minister and russia's defense minister. unclear whether the focus of that will shift and, of course, all of this, then, havingable effe an effect what's going on in

turkey and russia, allowing evacuation that just started again today. a lot of things ca called into question by this horrible act. >> and diplomatic circles across the world, shaken by this. clarissa ward, thank you so much for that report. we're going to turn now to the electoral klemp and talk abotalk -- college and talk to those in all 50 states as well as washington, d.c. correspondent covering this across the country. rosa florez from madison, wisconsin, voting has just begun. cnn sara sidner harrisburg, pennsylvania. the state that put president-elect trump part that 270 mark in the electoral college that you needed to win the presidency and also with us, cnn senior washington don't jeff zeleny. sara, you first. what are you seeing? what is this process like? >> reporter: it's incredible. standing on the house of the

chamber here. standing on the floor of the house chamber and you are hearing what has just happened, just occurred here in pennsylvania, in the state capitol. all 20 electors have voted for donald trump. as president. and pence as vice president. every single electoral vote went from pennsylvania to donald trump. as we expected, because we had talked to some of these electoral voters beforehand. finding out if any of the letters, thousands of letters owe or e-mails received would have swayed them. they all said no, and you're seeing that play out today. all 20 electoral votes, no change from the electorate. they all went to donald trump and we're seeing that play out also they have certified the vote signing it. that will be handed over and taken to someone in washington, and they will certify it further, but their business is pretty much done here when it comes to the election they have from he elected donald trump as their next president. >> sara sidner, using her golf

commentator voice, because this is in progress in harrisburg, pennsylvania. rosa, talk to us about wisconsin. because the president-elect won that state by a narrow margin, just under 23,000 votes. what are you hearing from the state's electors? 10 electors. >> reporter: well, you know, i should note that electors are going through a roll call now. what you're seeing behind me. electors are sitting and also, brianna, i wand to hand the camera over. there is a lot of interest from the public here. you can see that there are a lot of people sitting in the audience and there are two overflow rooms filled with people who are also interested in witnessing what's going to happen here. but like you mentioned. i talked to somee lectors one telling me he received more than 80,000 e-mails and more than 2,300 letters in the mail trying to sway his vote. he tells me that some of his

colleagues sitting behind me also received more than 2,300 -- more than 2,400 pieces of mail trying to sway them into what is going on. and what you just looked at right there, now, a lot of these people are protesting. they are hoping to sway the votes of these electors, and so, from talking to some of them brianna, i can tell you they're trying to show their objection against the election. you can see a man holding up a sign. rules laid out during the beginning of the meeting and people told they could not be speaking during this process, but like you just saw, there was a protest here stood up and said something, what you're seeing now, the gentleman talking to the man with that sign. probably telling him not to raise his sign. there is a sign outside of this room telling people not to bring signs into the room.

so -- a lot of angst, tension in the room. i it tell from you a lot of the people sitting here. they are hoping the electors not vote for donald trump, and that's bleebl you'probably you'g here shortly as the electors begin to cast their ballots. >> rosa florez, thank you. pretty civil, jeff zeleny, but also a lot of discord. so you tell us what happens once these electors from each state vote. >> brianna, playing out in 50 state capitals across the country and here in the district of clump jahr olumbia as well. you saw the action in wisconsin and pennsylvania. what happens there as well as in other states, once they have the signed forms they come here to washington and on friday, january 6th, precisely at 1:00 on the floor of the house of representatives chambers, each state is read alphabetically. a roll call of the states. the vice president, vice president biden, will be presiding over this. that is when it becomes

official, when the electoral college votes are actually recorded here. now, for all of the hopes of so many democrats, hopes of liberals and others something would change today, the reality is that is almost certainly not going to happen. it is not going to happen. the -- you know, this is -- democracy playing out as scripted. yes, hillary clinton won the popular vote, but that is not what is at issue today. this is the electoral college and once this is all finished unfolding this afternoon here, again, early next year is when it becomes official. then, of course, donald trump will be sworn in on january the 20th. but it is on january 6th in the house of representatives, you can see the roll call of the states. something interesting 20 wat in which it all becomes official. >> so fascinating, this key part of the process. jeff zeleny, thank you. and thanks to rosa flores and sara sidner watching it all

happen there on the ground. coming up, trump's incoming chief of staff. not yet buying intel over russia's hacking of the election. signaling maybe donald trump could. while several prominent senators are calling for a larger investigation. we are going to discuss with republican congressman adam kinzinger, right after this. oh, that's lovely... so graceful. the corkscrew spin, flawless... ...his signature move, the flying dutchman. poetry in motion. and there it is, the "baby bird". breathtaking. a sumo wrestler figure skating? surprising. what's not surprising? how much money heather saved by switching to geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more.

♪ ♪ music playing ♪ ♪ how else do you think he gets around so fast? take the reins this holiday and get the mercedes-benz you've always wanted during the winter event. now lease the 2017 gla250 for $329 a month at your local mercedes-benz dealer.

the search for relief for loften leads... here,rers or here. today there's a new option. introducing drug-free aleve direct therapy. a tens device with high intensity power

that uses technology once only available in doctors' offices. its wireless remote let's you control the intensity. and helps you get back to things like... this, or this. and back to being yourself. introducing new aleve direct therapy. find yours in the pain relief aisle. new at walgreens and other fine retailers. we have live pictures to show you of electors in ohio. going through the process, casting electoral votes. electoral college happening right now casting its votes in all 50 states across the country today. again, you're looking there at columbus, ohio. we will look at different states throughout the hour as this

process plays out. today we're also watching the debate over russia's hacking of the election. four prominent senators including john mccain and chuck schumer are not only calling for a larger investigation of russia's actions, but they also want a new select committee to come up with tougher laws to combat cyber attacks. this call comes as the incoming presidential chief of staff, reince priebus, is questioning the finding of the intelligence community, suggesting that donald trump might find a way to believe these assessments. cia and fbi agreed russia hacked computers to help him win the election. he won't believe it until directors of cia and fbi go on tv and say it. >> i think he would accept the conclusion if these intelligence professionals would get together, put out a report, show the american people that they're actually on the same page as

opposed to third parties through the "washington post." >> it's not third parties. >> but we -- i mean we haven't heard from comey. so, look, i think these guys should be straight with the american people and come out and say it. >> joining me now is illinois republican congressman adam kinzinger and democratic congressman seth moulton. you have the house homeland security committee handling cyber threats right now and the question, congressman moulton, is does there need to be this select committee, a different committee, as you hear chuck schumer and john mccain saying, but seems like so far mish mcconnell and paul ryan are resisting? >> absolutely. i mean, this is a major issue for the united states of america. not just for republicans or democrats, but for our entire country. and it stretches across the jurisdiction of many committees. of course, it involves homeland security. it's an attack by russia on the united states that involves the

armed services committee as well on which i serve. so this absolutely should be a select committee and why you've seen courageous senators like senator graham and senator mccain come out and join their democratic colleagues and call for that kind of investigation. >> what do you think, congressman kinzinger? >> so i like the idea of keeping it in the committee of jurisdiction. intel does a good job as a bipartisan committee. however, if we see over the next few moss, weeks, whatever, there's going to be too much politics involved in the committees, and in fact they can't do it i'd be open to it i think it's early to call for a select committee. i'm not opposed to the idea of it. we just need to get to the bottom of what's going and and understand this doesn't need to be a partisan issue. some on the left questioning the election of donald trump because of it. some on the right denying this actually happened. this is where folks like seth and vie to get together and in a bipartisan way and say we want

to ensure this does happen again to the greatest republic in the world. >> you both have really interesting backgrounds, because you have a military background and bring your experience as elected officials to this. so when you hear congressman kinsing reince priebus saying that if the fbi and the cia would essentially come out publicly, get on the same page, announce their conclusions, also from your background, knowing how intel is handled, you know? this isn't the kind of thing just always aired. what do you think about him saying that? what do you take away from that? >> i don't like it. and i don't like it, because there's been this kind of tendency, especially over the russia hack issue, for people to say, i don't believe it until you publicly tell me what proof you have. we've gotten an a slippery slope where intelligence is private and protected and we 2ru69 the intelligence agencies to gives right answers with the best

judgment they have. seemed to evolved into we don't believe intelligence unless you're willing to go on cnn or item network and say what it is publicly. it's a dark art. something we're very good at and can't reveal our methods. the idea you have to see the directors come out and say publicly, of course, the next question, how do you know? and we reveal insymbol gathers efforts. that's not right. trust the intel community. agreement across the board it's happened. find out how it happened to prevent it from happening in the future. >> maybe an off ramp for donald trump who so far resisted these assessments that are pretty -- these are supported by all of the intelligence agencies that russia was behind these hackings. do you think it's good, perhaps, this signal that donald trump may accept this intelligence? >> look, this shouldn't be an issue of political speculation. i mean, frankly you know, reince

priebus says that trump hasn't heard from comey and the cia. well, he would hear from them if he simply got the daily intelligence briefing as part of our national security for, for time in memorial. every president has gotten daily intelligence briefings because they're so critical to the job. yet trump refuses them. adam is right. we need to put national security first, ahead of politics. we shouldn't be speculating about on or off ramps or whatnot. do what's necessary to protect the nation. i know that's what adam and i try to do every single day in congress, and frankly, that's what our president-elect should be doing as well i. >> want to talk about the president-elect, maybe his response in a moment. first, congressman kinzinger, talk about president obama, talking retaliation. what do you want to see that materialize as? >> that's going to be up to him. he knows more of the instruments of power that he possesses than i even know.

i think there needs to be a broad understanding, though, which is, you know, cyber defense is one thing. we need to get better at cyber defense. but cyber offense is important. this is, kind of a controversial thing to say, but this psalms li almost like the idea of the cold war idea of destruction. we can have our system hacked. how tight are the dnc or rnc cyber defenses but we need to make it clear if you get past the defenses and try to affect an election in any way we can do the same a to you's in essence, you mess with us, we're going to mess with balk. the president knows the instruments of power he has. i question why this is now in december now, very aggressive. i know there's talk of it in the past, but look, more than just saying, cut it out, the president and then the president-elect needs to make it clear this is the great effort country in the world. we're not a satellite state of the former soviet union. we will not be deterred, not intimidated in a country the size, with an economy the size of italy like russia will not

tell us what to do or control the world. >> what do you say to that, congressman moulton? seems like maybe democrats thought hillary clinton, maybe the white house thought, hillary clinton may win. we don't want to look we're putting the finger on the scale for her. maybe not going to address this. is this something that should have been addressed considering we've known for months this was going on and at least earlier it was likely russia? if we didn't have that confirmed? >> i think what you said is exactly what happened. clearly you know, everybody expected hillary to win. what all pollsters were saying and the democrats didn't want her victory to be tainted by saying that president obama pushed the elections one way or the other. so i think that, you know, president obama did what -- he tried to make a right decision at the time. which is make sure that our country did not think that there were outside influencers on our election or inside influencers. doing the right thing. now, look, adam is right. the stakes here are very

serious. could this be another cold war? in cyber territory? over the next 10, 20 years? yes it could. that's why people like president-elect trump and president obama need to sit down and work together on what our response should be. and, again, the fact that trump won't even get the intelligence briefings, won't even give the intelligence professionals, people who put their lives on the line for the defense of our country just like adam and i did in the military, the fact that he won't even give them credibility, he's more willing to listen to putin is frightening for our country. we've got get past that. >> all right, gentlemen. stick with me. much more ahead that we are going to discuss. tensions growing between president-elect trump and china after the chinese navy illegally seized a u.s. drone. we'll talk about that. and then before we go to break i want to show you what happened moments ago in madison, wisconsin. this is where protestors interrupted the electoral college vote there. you'd seen a little of it while

on-air live with think, but this is what unfolded in the moments after. then also an updated vote total. 135 votes for donald trump. 83 for hillary clinton, and we'll keep following the story for you. stick around. take one.

directv now.

stream all your entertainment! anywhere! anytime! can we lose the 'all'. there's no cbs and we don't have a ton of sports. anywhere, any... let's lose the 'anywhere, anytime' too. you can't download on-the-go, there's no dvr, yada yada yada. stream some stuff! somewhere! sometimes! you totally nailed that buddy. simple. don't let directv now limit your entertainment. only xfinity gives you more to stream to any screen. all right. t controversy siege of the drone in the south china sea rising tensions and deteriorating relations between the u.s. and china. the pentagon says beijing has to return the navy's unmanned underwater vehicle. this transfer has yet to happen. pentagon correspondent barbara starr is coving the story for us. what's the delay, barbara?

>> reporter: apparently, brianna, both sides are still talking how to make it happen. it looks like they're going to try and transfer it at sea, from a chinese ship to a u.s. navy war ship, but how do you do that? how to make it all safely happen? still seems to be topic number one of conversation. also told there's been bad weather in the area where they're trying to do this. that's held it up a bit. it looks like it's still on. everybody thinks it's still on, but it hasn't happened yet. brianna? >> and a tweet. tell us about this tweet as it characteristic of the president-elect talking about this specific issue? >> reporter: first, he indicated i think strongly that he was quite concerned about china taking this u.s. navy drone, and then you can see the words there. he comes back with another tweet, you know, just let them keep it. now -- the position of the obama administration, the position of the u.s. navy right now, is they

want it back. it is u.s. military property. the chinese have apparently agreed give it back. i'll tell you, it's not clear to anyone i've spoken to here at the pentagon what president-elect trump's goal would be in saying to china via twitter "just keep it." it seems to be something striking the u.s. navy and the u.s. military as just a bit odd. brianna? >> all right, barbara starr at bening. thank you for that report. many people claim that donald trump and those in his orbit of overly cozy with russia. it's the opposite story with china. the president-elect promised a hard line there. i want to bring back congressman seth moulton and songman adam kinzinger with us. so congressman kinzinger to you. do you believe that this capture of the underwater drone is -- i mean what do you make of this, china relations with the u.s. as

we have an incoming president? >> it's a violation of the principle of freedom of nar navigation over the sea ps what we fought the first war over. this violates the fact we made that a staple who we are in terms of international trade and the freedom to navigate and in terms of military. i think this needs to be pushed back against hard. it's not necessarily an act of war, but china's attempt to try to, again, reassert itself, which it's been doing over the last couple decades and especially the last few years and i'm excited about incoming president-elect trump's ability to push back on encroachment on the south china sea and sanctions and things like that. an exciting few years. >> clearly, congressman moulton, not bobbing along, they feel monitoring purposes for this? >> look, i think there's

bipartisan agreement we need to push back against china. president obama talked about a strategic shift to the pacific. not because he wanted to send the u.s. navy on vacation. because we have to confront the threat china poses in the south china sea. the reality is that what we're seeing over the last few days and i think a frightening lack of leadership from the president-elect. at first says we've got to get the drone back, then i don't care. look, i'm not a president-elect, but i was a lieutenant and had a platoon in the marines. if i was taking my marines on a mission to get a drone back and then a day later halfway through the mission said, oh, no. we don't care. they can just have it. that's not leadership pe were have to have serious leader shmp and stra strategic thinking. not one-off phone calls very confusing to the troops. >> we have a tweet. tell china we don't want the drone they stole back. let them keep it.

congressman kinzinger, when you see this back and forth and i suppose we may be expecting this as donald trump moves in to the white house is that helpful? >> no, i don't think so. you know, i think twit ker play a very important role in this kind of new era. you know, you looked at the prime ministers and presidents that use it to get information out. i think the president-elect shgs if advising him, be careful when the write the tweet personally without the understanding of necessarily that message it says it may not be helpful. i wouldn't necessarily discourage him to close down his twitter but definitely probably encourage him to run the tweets through different national security experts. again, he's still president-elect. i think when it comes to january 20th, he's sboorn office or 21st then can make the decision. i think at that point we can be way more critical, if, in fact, these kind of tweets cons at president of the united states and not just incoming. >> are you expecting a change? congressman kinzinger? expecting some sort of

adjustment in donald trump and the way he tweets and how it can affect national security? >> i think i am. the reason is because, when the weight of the presidency comes on top of your shoulders things change. you've seen from him saying initially he's not even going to divert himself of his business no 230u n no now putting out ways to divest, the transition process, you have him coming to conclusions some things have to be done differently. i support the president-elect in every way i can and oppose in areas i must, and hopefully when sworn in, twitter can be used effectively, he has a lot of followers, but i think leaving the emotional tweets out of it may about good step in the right direction. >> congressman moulton what do you think about this new secretary of the army designate vincent viola? you're a veteran, as is congressman kinzinger. what can you tell us? >> you know, i don't know him. but he's a veteran as well. he went to west point.

has an impressive career in business, but i'll tell you, i think that if you look at trump cabinet so far, you know, that it's 90% millionaires and billionaires. i think we've got that demographic. >> and generals. a lot of generals, too. >> there's a lot of generals. i -- i value the input of generals but you can't have a cabinet that all looks the same. that's almost all white. that's almost all men. and is 90% millionaires and billionaires. this is is a president-elect who said he was looking out for the little guy, wanted perspectives and listening to the american people. well, if you look at who he's going to surround himself with in this administration, he's certainly not listening to the vast majority of americans. >> what do you think, congressman kinzinger? so much advice that the president-elect is going to be getting from people with milita military backgrounds. is that an issue and speak to this appointment. >> i think it's going to about

great thing. i mean, you know, look. we've got people -- again, the case of general mattis, out of the military three years. the good thing about military people like seth and i in congress, for instance is we know where the, lack of a better term, the skeletons are buried in the pentagon. where there's inefficiencies and things that need fixed. general mattis will do a great job of that. bringing in military experience i think will be good and with the new army secretary. i don't know a lot about him but actually do know somebody who worked with him before and knows him well, said probably among the best pick he could have possibly made. may be worth a lot of money showing he's successful and i think he'll do a great job for the army. >> gentlemen, thank you. congressman kinzinger and congressman moulton, thank you for being on to have a bipartisan discussion. appreciate it. >> you bet. >> thanks. >> have a great day. just ahead, what happened to one electoral choond said he

would not vote for president-elect trump. it got downright scary. and where electoral voting is set to begin next hour. normally a boring formality. interesting this year. we're monitoring it, and will be right back. your insurance company won't replace the full value of your totaled new car. the guy says you picked the wrong insurance plan. no, i picked the wrong insurance company. with liberty mutual new car replacement™, you won't have to worry about replacing your car because you'll get the full value back

including depreciation. and if you have more than one liberty mutual policy, you qualify for a multi-policy discount, saving you money on your car and home coverage. call for a free quote today. liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance.

and electors casting their votes. in texas, one electoral college voefter openly vowed not to cast his vote for trump and tells cnn

the backlash is vicious. >> reporter: the threats keep coming to christopher soupra from raping his wife and daughters with a knife before killing him to warnings on social media, to messages on his cell phone. >> better get your [ bleep ] straight. we coming after you. >> people put out my home address and phone number. we're in a plate where, oh, you're not voting the way i want? i'm going to kill you. >> reporter: all because he is a republican texas elector in the electoral college. a so-called faithless elector. conservative lifelong republican will not vote for donald trump. even though the gop easily won texas. why not vote for donald trump? i mean, isn't that what you're supposed to do? >> if i'm a rubber stamp, exactly. this is unfortunately the first time we've needed to use it as a nation but it's time to pull the brake. >> reporter: claiming that goal of stopping trump made him a target of a snemear campaign.

a volunteer paramedic on 9/11. trump supporters claiming he was never there. a claim he called outrageous. he was a volunteer member from 2000-2002 but can't find a record where he was on 9/11. >> these electors are charged with a constitutional responsibility. >> reporter: the electoral vote is something we usually never pay attention to. but 2016 has been anything but usual. >> bottom line, he hasn't won yet. the only vote that mooters when it comes to president has not happened yet. >> reporter: a democratic washington state elector formed the hamilton electors the day after the election. now trying to urge electoral college members across the country to block trump from 270 votes. no for that to happen, some must flip he is the first to flip but

has heard from others. >> we believe there is -- there's a large group of people staying silent out of fear or maybe because they haven't made a final decision, but we do believe there's dozens of republican electors who are seriously considering not voting for donald trump. >> announce the votes -- >> reporter: even if that remote possibility happens, the house of representatives controlled by republicans electses the president. >> he's still going to win. >> still going to win. >> reporter: isn't this pointless, then? >> not if you're trying to vote your conscience, do the right thing and bring up the issue. i've been hoping he would become the president we all want him to be. he keeps proving me wrong. >> reporter: for cnn, dallas. and texas electors voting at 3:00 p.m. this year is your latest electoral college count. donald trump, 135 votes. hillary clinton at 83. bring in our political panel now. chief correspondent for the "washington post." and the senior politics reporter

for "usa today" and a cnn political commentator and the washington correspondent for "the new yorker." let's start with this elector, this -- it's really an interesting situation. where we don't see this all the time, and i don't remember the last time, dan, we were looking in at all of these states as their going through what's normally this perfunctory process and we see protesting happening in wisconsin and other places? >> we've never seen anything like thus but we've never seen anything like the election we went through and should not be surprised there's this much interest in it. obviously, because the popular vote went one way and the electoral vote another way. heightened interest and concern about it. but the kind of faithless elector movement, if you will, reminds me a little bit of kind of the never trump efforts ahead of the republican national convention. a lot of talk. people trying to stir things up but in the end, nothing really

was facteffected or changed by >> listen to what the president said in his year-end press conference before he went on vacation. >> the electoral college is a vestige. it's a careover from an earlier -- vision of how our federal government was going to work. there are some structures in r our, in our political system, as envisioned by the founders, that sometimes they're going to disadvantage democrats. >> he says, it's a vested -- is it like an appendix or something we don't really need? you know? we've been hearing a lot of people on the left, how do you say, maybe we should get rid of this? of course, there's challenges to that. how do you see this debate? >> the reason why you hear it from the left, it's overwhelmingly hurt the left. both throughout history and in

recent history. this is the second time in recent history we've seen the democrat win the popular vote and lose the presidency, and the last time it happened prior to that was 1888. there's something happening in terms of polarization of our country, as well as vote distribution. it is causing this and causing democrats to say, maybe we need to take another look. but let's have a reality check here. that is in order to do that you'd have to have a voting congress and then you'd have to have three-fourths of state rad nigh. who controls congress? republicans. they understand this. it disproportionately hurt democrats and not their party. i don't see this going anywhere, but if you want to put in context what we're seeing today, it is to spark just such a discussion, and to kind of give american as bit of a civics refresher about why we have the type of system we have, and maybe have a debate about it. >> can you make the case for the electoral college? >> well, the case is, this is,

our system does -- there's built-in advantage, talking about, a little now of a built-in advantage for republicans because our system favors geography, not just people. people think the senate is undemocratic. every state has two senators and every state regardless of population has at least three electoral votes. the candidates, they don't spend a lot of time in california and new york two big states, because they're not swing states, but spend a lot of time in small states such as new hampshire, a swing state. so the defense of it is, as trump who is a, a recent convert in the electoral college. phleb 2012. >> hated it. >> the popular vote. the defense is, states where the candidates would never go if we didn't have the electoral klemp and it gives some of the smaller states a little bit more of a say in the system. >> i've heard some democrats say, well, the senate is representative of states.

right? you have the small states with two senators just like big states like california only have two senators. that should be enough. i mean, what do you say to that? >> it mirrors the undemocratic nature of the senate which was, of course, a compromise, when the constitution was written, is carried over into the electoral college. that's the argument. that -- we shouldn't have both of these undemocratic things institutionalize. >> undo the electoral college, would you have a movement to changt the w change the way the senate is distributed? >> i want to talk about russia and some of what we're hearing, really a divide between republicans like john mccain and donald trump. you have john mccain, who's saying this may mean the unraveling of the world order. if russia or another country can interfere with elections in the democratic process. and then you have donald trump, who at this spoint stipoint is

acknowledges that this is russia. quite the divide. >> that's why you'll see a lot of defense hawks potentially coming forward. like mccain is. a debate over what should this investigation look like? there is a lot of concern right now that given what we know about how congressional investigations have operated over the past 10 to 20 years they inherently become politicized. maybe not all of the information that needs to get out to the public will get out to the public, and so that's why i think mccain -- has he actually said whether -- he might not -- mccain doesn't support necessarily the independent investigator, but what would be good is if mccain were kind of the head of the -- if his committee was the one investigating, because mccain does have such a bipartisan, you know, credentials and a lot of people trust mccain. >> does this call for the select committee, is it something that puts him at odds with his leadership in the senate?

so far mitch mcconnell rejected it. you see john mccain joining with democrats in a letter trying to sway him and also speaker ryan, but they're not onboard with this, dan? >> no. not at all and will continue to resist, and that could well be the result we get nap there won't be a select committee investigation but some kind of investigation. i think we're likely to see that and also get the report from the administration, presumably before president obama leaves office. which is likely to spur more questions and further inquiry. we're a long way from this being ended, pre-maturely. >> your expectation, there is really going to be a deep dive into this? that we'll learn about this? obviously some is classified, but you think we're learn a lot about this? >> a good question. these things become politicized quickly and i think it will behoove the people if there is in fact an investigation to be able to conduct it in a way

people have confidence about it that it doesn't simply become a part of partisan shouting match. >> the problem. in a way people have confidence in it. look at the numbers bhan what institution has less support than the given the level of distrust right now, it will be hard to emerge from this if it is run out of congress specifically out of these committees which are led by one party for there not to be an inherent plitization of it. >> we have a new electoral college count. donald trump with 176 votes and hillary clinton -- is that 93? 93. she was down a little bit below that so 176-93. we'll keep an eye on this as it changes. survived life under isis rule,

just ahead, a live report on the refugees fleeing aleppo. as after a dvt blood clot,ital i sure had a lot to think about. what about the people i care about? ...including this little girl. and what if this happened again? i was given warfarin in the hospital, but wondered, was this the best treatment for me? so i asked my doctor. and he recommended eliquis. eliquis treats dvt and pe blood clots and reduces the risk of them happening again. yes, eliquis treats dvt and pe blood clots. eliquis also had significantly less major bleeding than the standard treatment. both made me turn around my thinking. don't stop eliquis unless your doctor tells you to. eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. don't take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve

or abnormal bleeding. if you had a spinal injection while on eliquis call your doctor right away if you have tingling, numbness, or muscle weakness. while taking eliquis, you may bruise more easily ...and it may take longer than usual for bleeding to stop. seek immediate medical care for sudden signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. eliquis may increase your bleeding risk if you take certain medicines. tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures. eliquis treats dvt and pe blood clots. plus had less major bleeding. both made eliquis the right treatment for me. ask your doctor if switching to eliquis is right for you.

let get an update on our top stor story. some of the images you're about to see are very disturbing. a russian news agency is reporting that vladimir putin and turkish presidenterdogan spoke over the phone in what russia is calling a terror attack, a turkish gunman shot, yelling ak bar, do not forget aleppo in turkish. they have been trying to repair relations over the war in syria. in reept days the two countries were working on a joint effort to evacuate civilians from aleppo and the number evacuated

from eastern aleppo up now to 20,000. this is according to the turkish foreign minister. united nations security council has voted to redeploy u.n. staff to monday or and report on the evacuations, we have our national correspondent muhammad lila. i know you talked to some of the civilians. what are you hearing? >> reporter: well, brianna, they are describing their ordeal in aleppo as hell on earth. we spoke to people who are being treated at the hospital after being evacuated from aleppo and describe surviving so many -- like dozens and dozens of air strikes. a man lost his entire family and had his 6-year-old son cradled in his arms. his son was crying because he had just been told his mother died in an air strike. that story is not uncommon. there are hundreds and hundreds of civilians being evacuated from east aleppo that have lost close family members. once they are evacuated, the big

question, where do they go? are they going to a place that's going to be attacked by isis? a lot of unknowns but for many the suffering still continues once they are evacuated. >> tell us about the evacuations. how many people have been able to -- have been moved out of the area and what the expectations are? >> this is what makes the attack so interesting, the timing because the evacuations were going on today uninterrupted by all accounts today was a success. around 20,000 have been evacuated from eastern aleppo and the u.n. came out and said they were able to rescue 45 orphans from an orphanage, some of them were in dire need of medical care and now that they've been rescued they are getting medical care. it looked like in syria everything was moving according to plan. but now there's question marks what's going to happen next. >> we know you're going to follow that, muhammad, appreciate that report.

that is it for me. i'll be back at 5:00 eastern on the situation room for our international viewers amanpour is next. i really did save hundreds on my car insurance with geico. i should take a closer look at geico... geico has a long history of great savings and great service. over seventy-five years. wait. seventy-five years? that is great. speaking of great, check out these hot riffs. you like smash mouth? uh, yeah i have an early day tomorrow so... wait. almost there. goodnight, bruce. gotta tune the "a." (humming) take a closer look at geico. great savings. and a whole lot more.

channel islands national park. coronado. saguaro. you'll see there's one that's an eagle. my number one goal is getting more funds out to parks because some animals and plants are only found in one place in the world, and that's in some national parks. i find that's a great cause, and i want to support it. (avo) the subaru share the love event has donated over four million dollars to help the national parks. get a new subaru, and we'll donate two hundred and fifty dollars more. ♪put a little love in your heart.♪

tadirectv now. stream all your entertainment! anywhere! anytime! can we lose the 'all'. there's no cbs and we don't have a ton of sports. anywhere, any... let's lose the 'anywhere, anytime' too. you can't download on-the-go, there's no dvr, yada yada yada. stream some stuff! somewhere! sometimes!

you totally nailed that buddy. simple. don't let directv now limit your entertainment. only xfinity gives you more to stream to any screen. here we go, top of the hour, thank you for being with me. two breaking stories to tell you about today, first significant killing overseas, this brazen assassination at a museum, this russian ambassador to turkey assassinated while giving a speech at an art exhibit. the killer was apparently speaking in turkish shouting saying do not forget aleppo, do not forget syria. we have much more on this, including the initial russian response coming up but first, for 538